Strangers from across the country have raised more than $48,000 to keep a student at Vanderbilt University after her mother committed suicide and her father lost his job.

Cassie Wessely, 19, from Grayslake, Illinois, was left $24,000 short for the upcoming school year - despite a summer job, savings, a scholarship, a student loan and financial aid from the school.

So last week, out of desperation, she created a
GoFundMe page to try to raise $25,000 to
ensure she could return to the college for her second year.

After just three days, it had raised more than $6,000 and now it has topped $48,000 as nearly 1,000 people from across the country donate amounts between $5 and $100.

Determined: Cassie Wessely launched a fundraiser to help her pay for her second year at Vanderbilt University. She struggled after her mother committed suicide last year and her father lost his job this year

'There are really no words to say how thankful I am,' she told Today. 'When I saw $5 donations, I knew that was from people who didn't have the money to give, but they gave anyway.'

Some of the donors have said they were also affected by suicide, while others are people she knows or Vanderbilt alumni wishing her well.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

On the page, Wessely explains that her mother, Karen Peregrin Wessely, had residential custody of her when she graduated from high school. Her mother was unemployed and her financial aid at Vanderbilt was determined by her income.

A year at the Tennessee university, including tuition, fees, accommodation, books and other
expenses, can reach more than $62,000 a year.

Missed: Her mother, Karen, took her life last year after struggling with the death of her son five years prior

But just three weeks before the teen headed to college, her mother killed herself. Wessely explained to Today that her mother had struggled with her brother's death from an overdose five years prior.

'It was a difficult year, but I did my best to persevere,' Wessely wrote on her fundraising page.

But after her
freshman year, she lived with her father in Chicago and he took on
residential custody of her, so her financial aid was based on his 2013 income.

Then earlier this year, he lost his job. With the financial aid already based upon his previous earnings, Wessely learned that she was about $24,000 short for the year.

So she turned to the fundraising website to ensure she could continue studying towards her biomedical engineering degree.

Kindness of strangers: More than 1,000 people have raised more than $48,000 for the teenager

With the donations already far exceeding her target, she said she will put the extra money towards paying for her junior and senior years.

She plans on leaving the fundraiser up until school starts on August 20.

'It is overwhelming, but in a good way,'
she told The Tennessean. 'It was just so touching, and I'm so grateful and I was so
blown away by it all.'